Weekly WIP Roundup 1/30/21

Somehow it's already the end of January! This is a very busy time in my non-knitting life, so not much to report this week. 

My Sumu socks are finally looking like socks! I finished the heels last night, and I'm still fascinated by this technique. There is no heel flap and no picking up stitches. The gusset is increased while you continue to knit in the round. Only a small heel turn is done flat and then you return to knitting in the round for the decreases. I think this was a great technique to try with my first two at a time socks. 

I'd like to get these done this weekend and I'm feeling pretty optimistic.  The insole pattern has become very intuitive and the bottom of the foot is plain,  which will go much faster than the back of the leg. The back leg pattern was mostly 1x1 ribbing,  but there is a textured pattern down the middle.  It took me almost the whole leg to get the hang of it, and even then I had to double check the pattern constantly.  I'm sure I'll like it as part of the finished product,  but while I was working on it it felt unnecessarily ornate in my desire to make progress more quickly.  

Next week I have two new socks to start and I'd feel a lot better if these were off the needles and on the finished project page before I cast them on.

Next week's socks are Valentine's Socks for a flash KAL for the Eatsleepknit yarnathon and the first surprise sock of the Handmade Sock Society Season 4. Both of these events are new for me and I'm really looking forward to them. 

Eatsleepknit is a LYS in Georgia (that ships really quickly) that I stumbled upon last fall. They exclusively carry hand-dyed yarns and have an excellent selection. They host an annual Yarnathon - a competition where you earn rewards by buying yarn and/or participating in challenges. I discovered it too late last year to make much progress, but I really liked the idea and made it one of my goals for the year to participate as much as possible. In fact,  it helped shape most of the rest of my knitting goals for 2021. There is also a huge and very active group of participants over in their ravelry group.

The Handmade Sock Society is a collection of six sock patterns by Helen Stewart. They are released monthly, which fit in well with my sock goals for the year. Also, after browsing the patterns from the previous seasons,  I'm looking forward to some gorgeous surprises.  

Hopefully I'll have some good progress to share next weekend!

Xo Uhlissa 

I got up for three minutes and lost my knitting spot this morning.